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CORfRIGHT DEPOSm 



OUR BOYS 
IN FRANCE 



BY 



GEORGE W. McDANIEL 



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Distributed by 
BAPTIST STATE MISSION BOARD 
Richmond, Va. 






Copyright, 1918 

BY 

GEO. W. McDANIEL 



NOV 18 f9i8 






TO 

THE 

OF A 



INTRODUCTION. 



On July the 25th by appointment of the Pro- 
gram Committee I delivered an address before 
the Dover Baptist Association, which includes 
most of the Richmond Baptist Churches, on 
"Our Boys in France." No thought was enter- 
tained of publishing the address. Some who 
heard it asked that it be repeated to their com- 
munities, and the Religious Herald expressed 
the hope that it be furnished that paper for 
publication. From July to the third week in 
September I spoke at various places in Virginia 
and in Washington upon this subject. On 
every occasion some auditor asked for a copy 
of the speech or for parts of it. No manuscript 
had been prepared and it was impossible to 
comply with the requests. Then I conceived 
the idea of enlarging the material into a small 
book. Cheap binding seemed unworthy of our 
young men, and so imported English cloth and 
an original stamp of the insignia of the army, 
navy, marines, and aviators stamped on the 
back was made possible by charging a nominal 
price for the book. In this way I have sought to 
put in permanent form my inadequate tribute 
to "Our Boys," one hundred and sixty-five of 
whom, including my only boy, have gone from 
the Church of which I am pastor. I send this 
message forth to the parents, wives, sisters, and 
sweethearts of "Our Boys" in the hope that it 
may heighten the appreciation we already feel 
for them. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

They Also Serve 12 

Figures That Astound 19 

In Fine Fettle 21 

Youth Will Not Be Denied 25 

A Happt Combination 28 

The Turn op the Tide 42 

The Part "Our Boys" Played 47 

Valorous and Victorious 57 

An Army op Character 68 

The Hearts at Home 74 

Getting Ready for Their Return 83 



'OUR BOYS" IN FRANCE 




HERE are forty-nine na- 
tions in the world. 
Twenty-eight are engaged 
in war; five others have 
severed diplomatic rela- 
tions with the Central Powers. Only 
sixteen remain neutral. Thus ninety- 
two per cent., a billion and a half, of the 
earth's population, is involved in this 
war, and every individual on the globe is 
affected by it. Belgium and France are 
the battle fields where the mightiest 
conflict of the ages is raging, and where 
the destiny of the race is being decided. 
Into this world struggle the United 
States is throwing her vast resources 
and she has become the deciding factor 
in the final outcome. Scarcely a person 

11 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

among us has not some near relation in 
the service of our country. Our bodies 
are here, but our hearts are with the boys 
''over there." 

They Also Serve. 

In speaking of ''Our Boys," however, I 
would not be unmindful of those who are 
kept in the camps here; nor, indeed, of 
any of our men in the service. I would 
include those who were detained for 
weary, monotonous months in camps, as 
were the Virginia men at Anniston. Far 
easier would it have been for them to go 
across without delay. It was hard for 
them to learn that, 

"They also serve 
Who only stand and wait." 

I am also thinking of those enlisted 

12 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

men detailed to service at home, whose 
ambition was to go to France. A short 
time ago I officiated at the wedding of a 
captain. He has since become a major. 
It was not a 'Var wedding." He and 
his fiancee were college mates and sweet- 
hearts of those halcyon college days in 
Texas and were engaged at the time 
America entered the war. He volun- 
teered and in a manly way, commend- 
able beyond words, said to his sweet- 
heart: '*I could not in honor marry when 
duty calls me to leave you, probably 
never to see you again. If you wish to 
be released from the engagement, I will 
free you." She, a very sensible young 
lady, agreed with him in his first proposi- 
tion, but promised to wait the issue of the 
war. He was well equipped physically 

13 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

and intellectually and was promptly 
commissioned in the Officers' Training 
Camp as a captain. When the men he 
trained went across, he was detached 
from his company and detailed to service 
in the Officers' Instruction Camp. His 
disappointment was keen when the higher 
authorities informed him that he could 
be more valuable to the country training 
officers at home, and that in all prob- 
ability he would not see France during 
the war. Then it was, and not until 
then, that he married, for, as he said, he 
needed comfort in his hour of greatest 
disappointment. 

The government alone knows where one 
is most needed and where it assigns a 
man there is his post of duty. Military 
discipline does not consult the preferences 

14 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

of individuals. It commands and they 
obey. While this war continues the men 
in the service of our country at home 
should not feel that they are any less 
patriotic than those abroad; after the 
war is over there must be no discrimina- 
tion against the men who performed the 
less spectacular tasks. Their part is 
essential to the success of the army in 
Europe. After the battle of Ziklag, 
David established a just rule that who- 
ever stayed behind with the baggage 
shared equally with those who went to 
the front: '*As his share is that goeth 
down to battle, so shall his share be that 
tarrieth by the stuff: they shall share 
alike." I Samuel 30:24. Those two 
hundred men left behind did not want to 
stay, but they could not go on, and David 

15 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

justly placed them among the victors. 
The schools of Texas, on April 21st of 
each year, celebrate San Jacinto Day — 
the battle in which Texas won her in- 
dependence from Mexico. Among the 
heroes of that battle the Texans number 
and honor the men who were sternly de- 
tailed by General Sam Houston to keep 
the camp and who wept because they 
were not in the battle. Three hundred 
thousand American soldiers in France 
are kept out of the trenches for construc- 
tion work and the like. It is not sur- 
prising that they chafe; they want to 
fight. Who would say that their brows 
shall not wear the same laurels as those 
that crown the heads of the men in 
action? They are all comrades and 

16 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

equally important to the winning of 
the war. 

I would also include those who have 
the spirit to serve but are physically 
disqualified. A little while ago I spoke 
in a camp where many men made pro- 
fession of faith. Among them was one 
whose stalwart form impressed me. On 
leaving the ''Y" this big fellow was seen 
standing by the door with anxious face 
and tearful eyes. I took his hand again 
and inquired; ''You have surrendered to 
Christ; isn't it well with your soul?" 
"Yes, sir, I have given myself to Him. 
My soul is saved, but my heart is broken. 
They told me to-day I was rejected be- 
cause of a leaking heart." He and all 
like him are as genuine heroes as those 
who fall on the fields of France. Pa- 

17 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

triotism is a thing of the spirit. Yes, 
and I would put a gold star in the service 
flag of the churches for every man who 
died in the camps of America. They 
did their part and none could do more. 
They answered the call of their country 
and when God called the roll in Heaven 
they answered ''here" to their names. 
They measured to the lines, 

"God's test of manhood is, I know. 
Not, Will he come? but. Did he go?" 

We call them familiarly "Our Boys" 
and they are our very own; but they are 
really men now. The moment a boy 
puts on the American uniform he passes 
from boyhood to manhood, with all of a 
man's self-reliance, independence, re- 
liability and courage. Oh, a wonderful 
change has come over ''Our Boys," and 

18 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

as if by a magician's wand tens of 
thousands have become men! 

Figures that Astound. 

''Our Boys" compose the largest army 
ever mobilized by the United States. 
The volunteer spirit had not been lack- 
ing, for even before America entered the 
war thirty thousand American lads had 
gone to Canada, crossed the Atlantic 
and were fighting with the Allies. The 
selective draft, however, was adopted as 
the only fair and sufficient method of 
building an army and we have now about 
250,000 in the navy and more than 3,- 
200,000 in the army. Next year we shall 
have an army of at least 5,500,000, and 
if it is necessary to win the war we will 
raise an army of ten million. 

19 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

What of ''Our Boys" in France? They 
constitute the largest army and navy 
ever sent so great a distance by any 
nation. Heroditus records that the boats 
groaned under the tread of the Persians 
as they crossed the Hellespont to con- 
quer Greece, and a poet describes their 
King Xerxes in lines familiar to every 
school boy: 

''A king sat on his rocky brow 
That overlooked sea-born Salamis, 
And ships by thousands lay below, 
And men in nations all were his. 
He counted them at break of day, 
And when the sun set, where were they?" 

That army of Xerxes probably did 
not exceed 900,000 men. The Russian 
army and navy in the Russo-Japanese 
war does not contradict my statement, for 

20 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



the Russian army in the East was not as 
numerous as our army in France, and 
their navy under Rojestvensky was de- 
stroyed as it entered Japanese waters. 
The United States had landed more men 
in France by July 4th than Great Britain 
sent across the channel of thirty miles 
during the first year of the war ; we landed 
more men in France in that time than 
were enlisted under the stars and bars 
from '61 to '65; we have trained for ser- 
vice a larger army than that with which 
Germany invaded France in 1914. 

In Fine Fettle. 

''Our Boys" are the most physically 
fit men fighting in Europe. The health 
record of our army surpasses that of 
any army in the world's history: the 

21 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

death rate being eight out of every 
thousand here and abroad. Thirty- two 
per cent, of the men examined in the war 
between the States were rejected for 
physical disabihty, while only twenty- 
three and seven-tenths per cent, of the 
first 3,082,949 examined for this war 
were rejected. That means an increase 
in physical efficiency of eight and three- 
tenths per cent. Are you not surprised 
that the city boys averaged higher than 
the country boys? In the gymnasiums 
and swimming pools and on the vacant 
lots and athletic fields of the towns and 
cities as well as in the open air and on 
the farms ''Our Boys" developed agility, 
strength, and skill with which to meet and 
master the Huns. The hygienic and 
preventive measures in city schools also 

22 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

helped to produce this result. A father 
had a son with a strong aversion to 
digging in the dirt or chopping wood. 
One hot afternoon in May he saw this 
boy cultivating the garden until he was 
soaked with perspiration. Finishing this 
job he went, of his own accord, to the 
wood-pile and began chopping wood. 
The father was both amused and amazed. 
He inquired of the boy's sister, ''What has 
come over brother?" ''Oh," she said, 
"in the physical examination for the 
marines this morning they told him he 
was two pounds over weight, and he is 
reducing." This same lad a few weeks 
later wrote from Paris Island: "We 
drilled seven and a half hours yesterday 
and hiked six miles. We were naturally 
tired and hungry by supper time. We 

23 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

ate heartily of a wholesome and sub- 
stantial meal, after which the major 
told us there were some potatoes that 
ought to be watered, and while he did not 
order us to do so, we knew that he would 
like for them to be attended to. Where- 
upon every man in the mess, without a 
murmur, went out and toted water 
three-eighths of a mile to water sweet 
potatoes until it was too dark to see 
them, for each man realized that to whip 
'Kaiser Bill' he had to have something 
to eat." In all the strenuous labors of 
camp training he never uttered one com- 
plaint to the folks at home. Had we 
not misunderstood ''Our Boys" in think- 
ing them lovers of ease and pleasure 
seekers? When the tocsin of war sounded 
they leaped into heroes. 

24 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



Youth Will Not Be Denied. 

''Our Boys" are the freshest and the 
most spirited fighters in Europe. The 
British are constitutionally phlegmatic. 
The war had raged a year before England 
was aroused. John Bull was never noted 
for alertness. An Englishman dined 
where an American told this joke: ''A 
lawyer by the name of Strange requested 
that when he died no tombstone be 
erected over his grave, for people passing 
would pause and say, 'That's Strange.' " 
Everybody laughed except the English- 
man. There was nothing funny in it 
to him. Next morning at breakfast the 
point struck him and he shook with 
laughter. That evening he undertook 
to tell the story to another party. Said 

25 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

he: ''A lawyer by the name of Strange 
requested his friends not to build a mon- 
ument over his grave, for people would 
pause there and say, 'That's extra- 
ordinary.' " The British and the French, 
our brave Allies, are war-weary. Prob- 
ably two million of their best young men 
sleep under the sod, and many others 
are wounded or disabled for life. The 
fighting forces of Europe after four years 
naturally became stale. Every athlete 
knows the danger of over-training and 
of long, continuous seasons of games. 
The American lads land fresh and full 
of fight. They are eager for the fray. 
The French marvel at the quickness with 
which our men move and learn. In a 
sense, they are like country boys coming 
to town with eyes that see and ears that 

26 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

hear and minds that remember. The 
very voyage across the sea feeds their 
zeal to land and fight. They go about 
their tasks with a song. A French girl 
remarked that she so loved to hear the 
Americans sing, and she loved most to 
hear their national hymn, ''Hail, hail, 
the gang's all here!" The Germans 
cannot quench, nor can they successfully 
meet these fresh Americans with their 
dauntless spirits. The first week in June 
our machine gunners rode thirty hours in 
trucks to the yielding Allies' lines and 
leaped out and threw their guns into posi- 
tion and for thirteen hours, without rest 
or sleep, held against the mad rush of the 
Huns. When the Covington had been 
struck by a torpedo from a submarine 
and was sinking, an American lad in- 

27 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

quired of Chaplain Perry Mitchell, ''Say, 
Chaplain, where do you get a taxi?" 
When the men from another sunken vessel 
were floating on rafts in the ocean they 
sang, ''Say, where do we go from here, 
boys, where do we go from here?" You 
cannot whip men like those. Aye, and 
they have heartened our Allies who now 
fight with renewed zest and determina- 
tion. 

A Happy Combination. 

"Our Boys" combine the best qualities 
of all the Allies. In them are to be found 
the gallantry of the French, the sturdi- 
ness of the British, the dash of the 
Italians, and the initiative and resource- 
fulness of the Colonials. Did I say the 
gallantry of the French? A Baptist 

28 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



pastor from Paris said in New York: 
''American soldiers in France had con- 
quered the love and sympathy of the 
French people because they exhibit a 
life of purity, so symbolic of the flag and 
every virtue that you have, every quality 
that you own." 

Knighthood is in flower among our 
lads in France. They are big brothers 
to the orphans. They are guardians of 
frightened women. They are benefactors 
of the sufferers in devastated districts. 
Now and then when one of our lads is 
killed there come to light deeds of charity 
and chivalry of which the world had not 
known. For instance, the letter from 
Greayer Clover's chum to the dear lad's 
father, telling of how Greayer gave to a 
family of Belgium refugees ''his five 

29 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

blankets, all that he had, and then bought 
the kid clothes and sent him to school — 
all out of his pay." ''Charity suffereth 
long and is kind." 

''His strength is as the strength of ten 
Because his heart is pure." 

Did I say the sturdiness of the British? 
The American marines, who have never 
yielded an inch of ground to an enemy in 
any war on any soil, and do not know the 
order ''Retreat," stood like a stone wall 
between the barbarians and Paris. After 
the first and second lines of French had 
broken and a French major had given a 
written order to a marine captain to re- 
treat, the American colonel, on being 
shown the order, exclaimed: "Retreat! 

30 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

We have been ordered to hold, and hold 
we will!" And hold they did. 

Did I say the dash of the Italians? 
There is my old commandant at Baylor 
University back in the nineties, Brigadier 
General Beaumont Bonaparte Buck, the 
first American general to be awarded the 
Distinguished Service Cross for con- 
spicuous gallantry. Quiet, competent, 
courageous, he served uncomplainingly 
as a regular at various posts through the 
years since he graduated at West Point 
two classes before Pershing. His hour 
of glory struck in France and he was there 
to answer. In an engagement his sub- 
ordinate officers were wounded or killed 
and the situation was critical. General 
Buck, with that calmness, alertness, and 
fearlessness that made him a hero with 

31 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

the college boys, hurried along the lines, 
steadied his men, gave the order, 'Tor- 
ward!" and lead them in a dashing 
charge to their objective. Witness also 
the Americans marching through water 
up to their arm pits and, discarding their 
coats, charging and pursuing the Huns 
in their shirt sleeves and pushing on the 
farthest distance of the Allies and break- 
ing the much heralded 'Triedensturm." 
Several companies of the marines who 
had been in battle for days and lost 
heavily in wounded and killed were being 
replaced by fresh troops. Though their 
ranks were decimated and those who re- 
mained should have been tired, as they 
marched from the front, keeping per- 
fect step, they sang. And what was the 
song? It was their service song. Never 

32 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

have I been so thrilled as when I heard 

six thousand marines in the ''Gym" at 

Quantico, led by the marine band, sing: 

"From the halls of Montezuma, 
To the shores of Tripoli, 
We fight our country's battles 
On the land as on the sea. 
First to fight for right and freedom 
And to keep our honor clean; 
We are proud to claim the title 
Of the United States Marine! 

From the Pest Hole of Cavite, 

To the ditch of Panama, 

You will find them very needy 

Of Marines — that's what we are — 

We're the watch dogs of a pile of coal, 

Or we dig a magazine; 

Though he lends a hand at every job. 

Who would not be a Marine? 

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze 
From dawn to setting sun; 
We have fought in every clime or place 
Where we could take a gun. 

33 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



In the snow of far-off northern lands, 
And in sunny tropic scenes, 
You will find us always on the job. 
The United States Marines! 

Here's health to you and to our corps, 

Which we are proud to serve; 

In many a strife we have fought for life 

And never lost our nerve! 

If the army and the navy 

Ever look on Heaven's scenes 

They will find the streets are guarded 

By the United States Marines: 

Did I say the resourcefulness of the 
Canadians and Australians? American 
engineers — the most efficient, by the way, 
on the globe — at Cambrai converted their 
spades into weapons and in the second 
battle of the Somme, when the fifth army 
broke, these engineers helped to close 
the gap and save the day. One private 

34 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

from Chicago captured, without aid, 
eighty-three German prisoners, including 
five officers. He found himself sur- 
rounded in ''No Man's Land" at day- 
break and was forced to surrender. A 
heavy barrage was falling behind the 
Germans that cut them off from their 
lines. They asked how many Americans 
were in front of them and what they were 
doing. He replied, ''There are eight 
regiments just ready to attack." Thus 
cut off from the rear and fearing cap- 
ture, the Germans proposed to surrender 
to him if he would treat them kindly. 
He said, "Americans are civilized and 
always treat prisoners fairly." They 
disarmed and one American marched 
five officers and seventy-eight men 
through his own lines to the prison cage. 

35 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

To a reporter he remarked, ''No wonder 
the Germans beHeve the Hes of their 
officers and mihtarists; they beHeved 
me when I told them there were eight 
regiments in our Hne." Another Ameri- 
can, wounded in the arm and the leg, 
took five prisoners and, holding his pistol 
to the side of one, made the five bear 
him on a stretcher within his own lines. 
A company of two hundred and fifty, 
that had never before been in battle, 
under Captain Mackey was surrounded 
in the Bois le Conde on July 16th and 
reported captured. Three hours later 
the captain turned up with thirty-eight 
men. They had refused to surrender and 
they cut their way through against tre- 
mendous odds. A platoon of Americans 
were cut off in Mezy when the Germans 

36 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

got across the Marne. They took posi- 
tions from which the Germans could not 
dislodge them and fought with their 
machine guns until the Americans re- 
entered Mezy on the Monday night fol- 
lowing. They found this platoon with- 
out food, but full of fight and mowing 
swaths in the ranks of the retreating 
Germans. In the same engagement a 
sergeant, J. F. Brown, commanded a 
detachment of eleven men sheltered from 
German bombardment. The onrushing 
Germans passed them, and as they got 
ready to turn their machine guns on the 
rear of the advancing boche a hundred 
more Germans appeared. The sergeant 
ordered his men to scatter, and from hid- 
ing places in the woods they saw the 
Huns put their machine guns out of com- 

37 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

mission. The sergeant started towards 
the Marne and met his captain, who was 
also alone. One with an automatic rifle 
and the other with an automatic pistol de- 
cided to kill all the Germans they could 
before being killed. Hearing two ma- 
chine guns back of them, they decided 
to get them. They crept stealthily and 
charged one, which killed the American 
captain. The sergeant killed the lone 
German gunner with his rifle and was re- 
enforced by an American corporal. These 
two started after the second machine 
gun. The sergeant killed the German 
crew of three with his rifle when he was 
joined by eleven of his men who were 
attracted by the firing. These thirteen 
Americans took positions in twelve places 
around a German trench. At a signal 

38 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

the twelve opened up with their rifles 
from twelve points and the sergeant 
started working his automatic. But the 
Germans, supposing they were attacked 
by a large party, decided to surrender, 
and more than one hundred men, in- 
cluding a major, a captain, two lieu- 
tenants and a number of non-commis- 
sioned officers, were captured. On the 
way through the woods with their prison- 
ers several other parties of Germans 
hurriedly surrendered and the sergeant 
and his twelve comrades returned with 
one hundred and fifty-five prisoners. 
Americans take many prisoners, but lose 
fewer men by capture, in proportion to 
the numbers engaged, than any com- 
batant on either side. They must be 
overpowered to be captured. 

39 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

Our aviators are performing daring 
feats. Lieutenant Edmond Chamberlain 
of San Antonio in one day destroyed five 
enemy airplanes, damaged two others, 
scattered a detachment of Germans, 
captured a prisoner, and conveyed a 
wounded French officer to safety. Cap- 
tain Charles T. Tricket of Sanders, 
Texas, performed a thrilling exploit in 
the air above Nantillois. A German 
aviator's machine gun set Tricket' s plane 
on fire. To remain in his seat meant to 
be burned to death. The daring cap- 
tain climbed out on the wing of the ma- 
chine and clung to the wires while the 
pilot safely steered the machine to earth. 

Did I say initiative? Therein resides^ 
an incalculable superiority to the Ger- 
mans. They are pre-eminently me- 

40 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

chanistic. Let a cog in the machinery 
get out of place and the whole system is 
disarranged. The Americans are origina- 
tive, vital. Witness the American gen- 
eral send a note to his superior French 
officer, who had given the general orders 
to yield ground, that the American forces 
for the first time were retreating and that 
the flag had never been and should never 
be dishonored, and that he had taken the 
responsibility of ordering a counter- 
attack. The Americans thus hurled 15,- 
000 Huns back across the Marne, cap- 
tured 1,500 and killed and captured 
8,500 the third week in July. That was 
the beginning of the initiative which the 
Allies have wrenched from the Huns, and 
which Germany, please God, will never 
regain. 

41 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

The Turn of the Tide. 

''Our Boys" in France have broken the 
spell of the German command. The 
ability, experience, and success of the 
German General Staff cast a spell over 
many thoughtful minds in Great Britain 
and France. Statesmen and strategists 
of Great Britain were wondering from 
March to July if the German Staff were 
in a class all to themselves and invincible. 
They had made five drives in the west 
since March. Perhaps I can give you a 
condensed and intelligent account of 
what had taken place on the western 
front in four epochal months. 

1. The battle of Picardy. Began 
March 21st from St. Quentin; one hun- 
dred and ten divisions attacked on a line 

42 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

of sixty-eight miles. Objective: the cap- 
ture of Amiens, the railroad center o 
Northern France; the separation of the 
French army on the south from British 
and Belgian armies on the north; and 
the whipping of the flanks in accordance 
with the maxim of Napoleon and Stone- 
wall Jackson. Results: The Germans 
drove a maximum of thirty-seven miles, 
overran one thousand, three hundred 
and fifty square miles of territory, cap- 
tured tens of thousands prisoners, and 
were stopped only six miles east of Amiens 
and within forty miles of the Channel. 
That was the week of dark forebodings 
and dreadful apprehensions for many 
of our hearts. 

2. The battle of Flanders. Began April 
9th from the old Hindenburg line north 

43 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

of Lens and south of Ypres, on a line of 
thirty-two miles. Forty divisions at- 
tacked with a concentration on a twelve- 
mile front between Givenchy and Fleur- 
baix. Objective: The channel ports and 
destruction of British and Belgian armies. 
Results: The Germans advanced an aver- 
age depth of ten miles, overran two hun- 
dred and twenty-five square miles of ter- 
ritory and were stopped by the French 
coming to the relief of the British at Mt. 
Kemmel, within twenty-eight miles of 
Dunkirk on the Channel. 

3. The battle of the Aisne (also called 
the battle for Paris). Began May 27th 
from the Chemin-des-Dames. Twenty- 
five divisions on a front of sixty miles 
were thrown against seven divisions, 
three of whom were battered divisions 

44 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

removed from Flanders to an inactive 
sector for rest. Objective: The capture 
of Paris. Results: The Germans pro- 
gressed a maximum of thirty-two miles, 
overran eight hundred and fifty square 
miles of territory, and rested on the 
Marne forty miles from Paris. This 
drive was the greatest surprise of the 
three and played havoc with the unequal 
opposing forces. 

4. The battle of the Oise. Began June 
9th on a twenty-mile line from Noyon 
to Montdidier. Objective: The capture 
of Compeigne and opening the way to 
Paris. Results: Advanced a maximum 
depth of eight miles and came to dead 
halt after three days. The least success- 
ful of the four drives, 

5. The second battle of the Marne. 

45 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

Began July 15th on the battle line from 
Chateau-Thierry up the river beyond 
Dormans, northward across the Vesle, 
around Rheims, and nearly to the Ar- 
gonne Forest in the east. The fighting 
began by forty-two divisions attacking 
on a line of sixty miles and lengthened 
to one hundred miles and increased to 
seventy divisions, and then to eighty- 
four. Objective: The elimination of the 
Rheims salient, the capture of Chalons, 
and the straightening of the German line 
for a final, supreme, and successful move 
on Paris, which it was hoped would se- 
cure a German peace in 1918. Results: 
Germans were held up by the Allies in 
front of their second line trenches east 
of Rheims, but crossed the Marne, turned 
eastward and were achieving critical 

46 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

success when Mangin delivered the coun- 
ter-attack July 18th which turned the tide 
of battle and changed the whole com- 
plexion of the war. 

The Part "Our Boys" Played. 

Note these facts: (1) The German 
offensive of March was not a surprise; 
it had been heralded to the world and 
the Allies thought their lines would 
hold. (2) The Germans succeeded in 
massing a superiority of from three to 
five to one against the Allies in their 
first three drives. (3) They overran 
twenty-five hundred and twenty-five 
square miles of territory. (4) They prob- 
ably killed as many as they lost and 
claimed the capture of 191,454 prisoners 
and vast stores of supplies and munitions. 

47 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

(5) The colossal combination of men and 
material was winning a decision by sheer 
force when the Americans met and held 
them on the Marne June 5th. (6) The 
Americans were not only successful in 
this fight, which was defensive, but 
shone brilliantly in local offensives which 
captured Cantigny May 28th, Belleau 
Wood June 11th, Vaux July 1st, and 
eagerly assisted the Australians in their 
advance at Hamel July 4th. (7) The 
first of the five German drives that failed 
to get beyond the first line trenches was 
the July offensive east of Rheims and a 
division of Americans were with the 
French on that line under Gouraud. 
Directly west of Rheims the lines also 
held, and two divisions of Americans 
were there under Berthelot. (8) The 

48 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

first time this year that attack was met 
by attack was on July 15th, when the 
American general disobeyed the French 
orders to retreat. The American idea 
is to meet the attack of the Hun and not 
retire before him or allow him to run over 
them. They have shown the Allies what 
rifles are for — not simply to use as bayo- 
nets and clubs, but to shoot with deadly 
aim before the enemy is on you. In jus- 
tice to our Allies, it must be remembered 
that numerical inferiority had forced 
defensive measures in the earlier cam- 
paigns of 1918. (9) The first large 
counter-attack by the Allies was July 
18th, when Mangin threw his forces 
against Von Boehm's exposed right flank 
on a line of twenty-eight miles from 
Belleau Wood to Fonterroy, and rolled 

49 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

it up to within two miles of Soissons. 
Thirty per cent, of Mangin's forces were 
Americans. But for the stand of the 
marines at Chateau-Thierry the Germans 
would be in Paris to-day — but for the 
American aggressive the Germans would 
still have the initiative. All Americans 
should know what troops broke the Ger- 
man spell and saved civilization. The 
Fifth and Sixth Marines were the first, 
and they have won undying fame. There 
were also the First and Second corps, 
under Generals Liggett and Wright, 
comprising the First, Second, Third, 
Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, 
Thirty- second, and Forty-second (Rain- 
bow) divisions of the American Expe- 
ditionary Forces. They have added new 
glory to our flag and won the eternal 

50 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

gratitude of all lovers of freedom. Our 
other troops will rank with these when 
they have their chance. General Mangin 
on August 7th congratulated the officers, 
non-commissioned officers and soldiers 
of the American army in language which 
should warm all our hearts: ''Shoulder 
to shoulder with your French comrades 
you threw yourselves into the counter- 
offensive begun on July 18th. You ran 
to it as if going to a feast. Your mag- 
nificent dash upset and surprised the 
enemy, and your indomitable tenacity 
stopped counter-attacks by his fresh 
divisions. You have shown yourselves 
to be worthy sons of your great country 
and have gained the admiration of your 
brothers in arms." The taciturn Gen- 
eral Foch says, "The Americans are 

51 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

splendid and wonderfully gallant in the 
field." 

What would be the situation at present 
had not the Americans held the Huns 
when they threw themselves against them 
at the point of their nearest approach to 
Paris, and at the time when the French 
were beaten and retreating? Paris ex- 
pected to be captured and preparations 
for evacuation were completed. Each 
Y. M. C. A. worker had been told how 
to leave and where to go; the Louvre 
department store had sold out in one 
day its entire supply of bags, suit cases 
and trunks. The war came within three 
weeks of being lost by the Allies, or pro- 
longed indefinitely. Creasy, in his De- 
cisive Battles of the World, describes and 
discusses Valmy which was fought in the 

52 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

present war zone one hundied and 
twenty-six years ago. There Kellerman 
whipped the Prussians and Austrians 
and gave undying prestige to the new- 
born French repubhc. There drafted 
men from the lower and middle classes 
showed that they could face cannon, 
fire bullets, and cross bayonets without 
being trained into a military machine 
or officered by the scions of nobility, and 
there ''they awoke to the consciousness 
of their own instinctive soldiership." 
Goethe, then a young man, was a spec- 
tator of the battle and he said to his de- 
feated friends: "From this place and from 
this day forth commences a new eia in 
the world's history; and you can all say 
that you were present at its birth." A 
hundred years from now tourists will 

53 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

stand with uncovered heads at Chateau- 
Thierry and say: ''Here is where the 
Marines stopped the Huns! Here is 
where America saved Paris! Here is 
where Washington paid his debt to 
Lafayette! Here is where freedom ht 
her torch on autocracy's funeral pyre!" 

The successes of Haig on the Lys, 
August 7th, and of RawHnson on the 
Somme, August 8th, were made possible 
by the heroism of the Americans in the 
battle of the Aisne in June and the sec- 
ond battle of the Marne in July. Aye, 
Allenby's triumph in Palestine and 
d'Esperey's in Macedonia in September 
are closely related to American achieve- 
ments in France. ''Our Boys" are too 
modest to make the claim, but when the 
pages of impartial history are unfolded 

54 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



they will reveal the truth that the Ameri- 
cans wrenched victory from defeat and 
turned the winter of allied disaster into 
the glorious summer of triumph. Nor 
have our men been idle since. The first 
shocks and experiences of battle made 
them eager for more. Frank Simonds 
says, 'They entered the semi-finals of 
the war at Saint Mihiel." Get a brief, 
comprehensive grasp of Saint Mihiel. 
It fell to the Germans September 25, 
1914, and the Kaiser sent back a message 
that thrilled Germany. The Huns were 
stopped there by Joffre's turning move- 
ment in the west, but still held the salient 
as a menace to Verdun and an obstacle 
to any future move on Briery or Lorraine. 
Joffre made two costly, futile attempts to 
eliminate the salient — one in February, 

55 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

1915, and another in the summer of the 
^ same year. It became an inactive sector 
where Americans were trained. At mid- 
night Thursday, September 12th, the 
bombardment began; at 5 A. M. the at- 
tack was dehvered, and by Friday Secre- 
tary Baker and Generals Pershing and 
Petain entered San Mihiel. Seven di- 
visions of Germans and Austrians, 90,000 
men, had fought; 25,000 of them had 
been captured, and 15,000 killed or 
wounded. Enormous amount of guns, 
munitions and provisions were captured 
and impetuous Americans who had out- 
run their commissary department ate 
out of captured German kitchens. More 
Americans fought side by side than in 
any battle in our history; a larger un- 
interrupted advance was made in one 

56 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

day than in any other day of four years' 
fighting on the western front; more 
prisoners were taken than in any one day 
on the French front; a larger area of 
French territory was liberated than in 
one day since trench warfare began 
in the fall of 1914. The stage was cleared 
for further action, which will follow after 
these lines are written, September 16th. 

Valorous and Victorious. 

"Our Boys" in France have the will 
to win. We are proud of them all. 
Two negroes were discussing the war. 
One said, ''De gub'ment ken tak yer, 
but de gub'ment kan't make yer fite." 
The other negro answered, ''Dat's so. 
De gub'ment kan't make yer fite, but de 
gub'ment kan tak yer and carry yer 

57 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

'cross de ocean and put yer over dar 
whar de fiting is so thick dat a man hav 
des natur'ly got to use his own bes 
jug'ment." Those negroes, like all of 
our troops, are using their best judgment 
and are standing like Gibraltar in de- 
fense and attacking like madmen in 
offense. The apparent disloyalty among 
the negroes at the beginning of the war 
was due to colored, or more frequently 
mulatto, agitators. These would-be lead- 
ers are pestilential fire-brands. Such 
negroes are the enemies of their race and 
a standing menace to our country. Be 
it said to the credit of the great mass of 
negroes: the voices of the German propa- 
gandists were quickly drowned in the 
rising and resounding chorus of negro 
patriotism. In France, the negroes have 

58 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

taken to their changed environment like 
ducks to water and France has taken to 
them hke boyfe to pancakes. If the 
the truth must be told, plain women of 
France are spoiling the negroes. Some 
married ones of my acquaintance have 
written back, ''We sho does lack it over 
here. Dey treats us lack white folks. 
We gwine stay here adder de war is 
ober. Tell our wives de ken git 'em 
some udder husbands." Negro char- 
acter is the same everywhere. The 
humorous traits that make us laugh in 
the South crop out in France. Some 
negroes were in a dug-out on which a 
German shell burst. Four or five were 
killed and two or three entombed. Short- 
ly, one of these climbed out of the debris 
minus an arm and began searching for 

59 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

something. Another negro asked, "What 
yer looking fer?" ''My arm." ''No use 
ter look fer dat. 'Tain't gwine do yer 
no more good." "Yas, but I wan ter git 
my wrist watch." Pershing called for 
1,500 volunteers from among 5,000 col- 
ored troops for a hazardous undertaking. 
Every man of the 5,000 stepped forward. 
Led by white officers, they make fine 
fighters. Frankly, I fear the social and 
political situation unavoidably being cre- 
ated by the participation of the negroes 
in this war. In old age, the seer Jeffer- 
son said the race question "startled him 
like a bell in the night." It will be more 
acute when the negro troops come home; 
but this is afield from the testimony I 
gladly bear to their valor in battle. Only 
remember and be prepared for the in- 

60 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

evitable hour — the negro soldiers and 
their new status in the South after the 
war. 

The will to win dominates every camp 
in America. ''Our Boys" are full of 
confidence and eager to fight. A father 
received the following letter from his 
only boy : 

Paris Island, S. C. 

July 21, 1918. 
''Dear Foddy: 

"I am just overflowing with the best of news. 
On yesterday morning our battalion 'hiked' 
into the Ammunition Depot. At that place we 
handed in our Lee Enfields, as the Enfield is 
only used during the first few weeks of training, 
and in exchange we were given the U. S. Spring- 
field, 30-30. The Enfield is a good gun, the 
second best in the world; but the Springfield is 
far and away the better of the two. It's lighter, 
shorter, easier to clean, better sights, and it has 
numerous other advantages. 

61 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



"After midday 'chow' (our name for food) we 
were given more good tidings. Sergeant Young, 
our present company commander, announced 
that on Monday we were destined to go on the 
range. Needless to relate, everyone in our com- 
pany is now 'all smiles,' for the range means that 
we are getting closer to our objective — Berlin, 
Germany. 

"This morning, after we had 'policed' quarters, 
I went over to the 'Y' (Y. M. C. A.) and heard 
Chaplain Rentez talk on 'The Real Man.' He 
handled the subject very well and I enjoyed his 
talk. 

"After a greatly enjoyed midday 'chow' our 
sergeant informed me that Captain Denby de- 
sired to see me at his tent. I immediately put 
on my 'best' and proceeded to the captain's 
tent. It proved that the captain wanted to 
see me in regard to the O. T. C. (Officers' Train- 
inf Camp). However, I told him it would be 
impossible for me to go, as I was only seventeen 
and had not the two years' college education. 
He then asked me the branch of marines I de- 
sired to join. I gave him three — ambulance, 
dispatch driver, or ammunition runner. He said 

62 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



that the marines were badly in need of these 
men, and he thought I could get into one of 
those branches in about eight weeks. I hope 
this is certain, for those units are sure to 'go 
across,' and quickly, and you know I'm in an 
awful rush to come in contact with the Huns. 

"Foddy, I declare the life here is simply great 
—it just suits me to a T.' I like it better each 
day. I tell you it's good to know that one is at 
last trying to do his real duty. 

"As I have said before, tomorrow we go on 
the range, and that means that our rifles must 
be in A-1 shape, so I will have to close, as my 
Springfield needs a three-in-one oil bath. 

"Lots and lots of love for dear mother. 

"Your devoted boy." 

That letter is typical of thousands of 
other letters and is representative of 
American youth, Joyce Kilmer, that 
pure poet who has made the supreme 
sacrifice, wrote the ' 'Prayer of a Soldier 
in France" with a touch of inspiration: 

63 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

"My shoulders ache beneath my pack, 
(Lie easier, Cross, upon His back). 

I march with feet that burn and smart, 
(Tread, Holy Feet, upon my heart). 

Men shout at me who may not speak, 
(They scourged Thy back and smote Thy 
cheek) . 

I may not lift a hand to clear 
My eyes of salty drops that sear. 

(Then shall my fickle soul forget 
That Agony of Bloody Sweat?) 

My rifle hand is stiff and numb, 

(From Thy pierced palm red rivers come). 

Lord, Thou didst suffer more for me 
Than all the hosts of land and sea. 

So let me render back again 

This millionth of Thy gift. Amen." 

Defiant Hun prisoners are declaring, 
'We will win the war or we will all go to 
hell." They are a determined and des- 

64 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

perate foe, for there is nothing left to 
the miUtarists when Germany is beaten. 
Germany's national debt totals thirty 
billions — thirty-six per cent, of her 
wealth. Her internal war loans to July 
1st amount to $20,814,000,000. Her 
average national income is $156.7 per 
capita and her debt is $447.7 per capita. 
She has destroyed $5,000,000,000 of the 
allied property. Six generations will not 
pay their war debt. Any peace agree- 
ment will require them to restore and in- 
demnify Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, 
Roumania, Albania, and the other terri- 
tory they have devastated; this will ex- 
tend the tax three generations. If Great 
Britain insists, as she should, that Ger- 
many shall pay for all the ships sunk by 
her submarines, the tax will extend one 

65 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

more generation. With her ships taken 
from her never to be returned, her colonies 
gone, her foreign trade lost, her best men 
dead, her civilization discredited, and her 
rulers a hiss and by-word among the peo- 
ples of the earth, Germany will face the 
most colossal collapse in the history of na- 
tions. The only safe course for us to pur- 
sue is to count on her fighting as long as 
there is hope to avert the disaster which 
her madness provoked. The Americans 
are saying, "We will win the war and die 
in God's own time and go to Heaven in 
the faith of the Gospel." One of my Red 
Cross nurses, who was in the first unit 
to go to France, and is close to the fight- 
ing, writes: "Our Boys are wonders. 
They are so brave and happy. We get 
them direct from the line. They are 

66 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

full of the proper spirit. They do not 
want to stay in the hospital long enough 
to get well. We feel sure of their success. 
My! but it is a great satisfaction to know 
our own boys are between us and the 
enemy. We feel very much protected, 
even though we are under heavy barrage 
day and night." ''Our Boys" are say- 
ing: 

''If worse than body's death or body's maiming 
Should be my portion here in ravaged France, 
God keep me from the coward's way of blaming 
'The power of untoward circumstance.' 

"Does just the lack of losing make the winner? 
Does just the lack of smirching make the 
clean? 
Temptation never made a man a sinner — 
It shows the world what only God had seen. 

67 



OVR BOYS IN FRANCE 



"If I must fall, may I go bravely under, 

Not shirking my own weakness, my own 
shame. 
Evils enough are bred of battle's thunder, 
But wrongs it never fathered bear its name. 

"God, give me strength to keep my colors flying, 
Against whatever comes to lay them low; 
But if I fall, God shut my lips from lying! 
An outcast I may be — a dastard, NO!" 

An Army of Character. 

''Our Boys" over there have the morale 
and the morals to win. The esprit de 
corps of the troops is the highest. The 
religious conditions are so improved and 
impressive that Italy has asked the Y. 
M. C. A. to build huts and place workers 
in her army. Admiral Sims gave each 
man in the navy a New Testament con- 

68 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

cerning which he wrote: ''This Testament 
is a handbook of manhood. It intro- 
duces you to the Pattern-man who shows 
you what to become and the way to be- 
come it. Your proficiency as a member 
of the naval forces of your country de- 
pends upon the proper performance of 
your duty as a Christian." That is a 
nobler sentiment than Nelson expressed 
at Trafalgar. The head of our forces is 
a Christian and a temperance man. Our 
laws make the giving or sale of intoxicants 
to soldiers a crime, and France is en- 
deavoring to co-operate in protecting 
the American army. Ours is the most 
temperate army in Europe. John Ken- 
drick Bangs testifies that among 120,000 
of our young men in France, he saw only 
one tipsy American boy. Perhaps this 

69 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

is too rosy a view, but is nearer the truth 
than the wild statements of promiscuous 
drunkenness among the troops. The 
first year of the war the Germans drank 
ten milHon bottles of champagne. The 
second year they drank only five million 
bottles. The last year they drank twenty 
million bottles. The more they drink, 
the quicker and surer will we whip them. 
It is an historical fact that the wine cellars 
of France contributed largely to Von 
Kluck's defeat in the first battle of the 
Marne. The ground over which the Ger- 
mans retreated was declared by visitors 
"to have more empty bottles than empty 
shells." 

The basis of our lads' morality, as in- 
deed of all morality, is religion. In 
twelve camps where I have spoken and 

70 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

preached the men are hungry to hear vital 
messages of reHgion and reports from 
France are to the same effect. On a re- 
cent Sunday morning the congregation 
of the First Baptist Church was deeply 
affected by the reading of a letter from 
a Y. M. C. A. secretary in France certi- 
fying to the baptism of a captain from 
Richmond, and stating that the captain 
wished fellowship in the Church of which 
his wife was a member. The captain 
and eight of his men were baptized in a 
beautiful lake surrounded by gently slop- 
ing hills from which a regiment reverently 
witnessed the administration of the apos- 
tolic ordinance. Thousands of soldiers 
who never gave serious consideration to 
personal religion at home are pledging 
their allegiance to Christ. The very 

71 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

atmosphere is conducive to seriousness, 
to resolution, to trust. Some Christian 
workers discount the most effective 
agency they have, viz: religion. They 
do not rightly interpret the needs and 
longings of the men. 

An army chaplain made a valuable dis- 
covery which it would be fortunate for 
all chaplains to know. To his surprise 
he found that the men were more in- 
terested in vital religion, served out 
straight, than in moving pictures. A 
venerable minister put the question of 
what they preferred right up to the men 
themselves. ''Boys, I've come here to 
tell you something about religion. Would 
you like to begin right away or would 
you rather have a movie film first?" 
A tall, raw-boned soldier stood up in the 

72 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

audience and spoke: ''To hell with the 
movies. Let's hear about rehgion!" The 
boys are quick to detect camouflage, but 
the real article of religion they recognize 
and appreciate. They never yet left 
a real man of God who gave his message 
"right off the bat." The highest au- 
thority on the place of religion among the 
troops is General Pershing. Responding 
to the communication from the Churches 
of America, he said, 'We know that 
mere wealth of material resources or even 
of technical skill will not suffice. The 
invisible and unconquerable force let 
loose by the prayers and hopes and ideals 
of Christian America, of which you are 
representative, is incalculable. It steadies 
us to resist manfully those temptations 
which assail us in the extraordinary 

73 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

conditions of life in which we find our- 
selves. Your message of loyalty to us 
draws this reciprocal message of loyalty 
to you. We of the army think with 
gratitude and emotion of the unflagging 
service and wonderful trust in us of the 
Churches at home. May we prove our- 
selves worthy of it." 

The Hearts at Home. 

What must be our attitude towards 
"Our Boys" over there? In every possi- 
ble way we must cheer their hearts. 
Certain financial lepers would sell stocks 
when the Americans are winning and buy 
them back when the Americans are los- 
ing, and thus would profit by the ebb and 
flow of the battle tide of their own men. 
What effect would it have on the spirits 

74 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

of "Our Boys" to know of this contempti- 
ble conduct? I want no dollar made by 
such practices. I stand with them and 
behind them, winning or losing, and 
should they go down, I would want to go 
down with them. Keeping sad news 
to ourselves and conserving food are small 
in comparison with the hardships they 
endure. 

We can make it easy when they go. 
An officer from Camp Funston was 
transferred to another camp the week 
the troops in the second camp entrained 
for the port. He said he never saw such 
a disheartening scene. Wives, sisters, 
sweethearts, mothers — women in large 
numbers — wept and clung to the men as 
they took their leave. The separation is 
trying to ''Our Boys" without our mak- 

75 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

ing it more so by giving way to emotion. 
If you have tears to shed, stay them until 
the departing soldiers are out of your 
sight. It takes courage, but what are 
we for if not to manifest just that kind 
of self-control? A Virginia mother, a 
widow, whose son, formerly captain of 
the Washington and Lee baseball team, 
wrote her not to come to Camp Lee to 
tell him good-bye, as he wanted to spare 
her the ordeal, replied, ''John, I am 
coming. It will be a comfort to me to see 
you just before you go across." She 
bade him good-bye without a tear, and 
as she kissed him on one cheek and then 
the other, she said, ''God's banner of 
love be over my boy. I am proud of 
you." As she turned away some of the 
young men, who were too far from home 

76 



OUR BOYS IN F RA NCE 



for their mothers to be present, remarked 
upon her courage and wondered how a 
mother could be so brave. She said to 
them, ''God helps me, young men, and 
I restrained my tears for John's sake." 
But she did cry all the way to Richmond, 
and most of the night. That was all 

right. 

We must strengthen them to stay until 
their task is finished. The Kaiser's 
American dentist saw two books on the 
table of the Kaiser's bedroom. The 
title of one was 'The World War." The 
title of the other was 'The Next World 
War." It is the next world war against 
which we are fighting. I would rather 
have my back bend beneath burdens and 
my heart wrung by anguish and know 
that the generations that come after me 

77 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

are to live under the blue skies of peace 
and the bright sunshine of prosperity than 
to see this war prematurely ended and an- 
other generation have to go through the 
valley of the shadow which darkens the 
continent of Europe to-day. It were 
traitorous to our descendants to bequeath 
to them the legacy of an unfinished war. 
It were treasonable to those who have 
died in the conflict to stop short of com- 
plete victory, of unconditional surrender, 
of dictated peace based upon wrongs 
righted and justice established. If it 
requires the life of every man now en- 
listed under the stars and stripes to win 
a just, righteous, lasting and universal 
peace I would rather see that price paid 
than for unsettled issues to remain to 
convulse the earth with another earth- 

78 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

quake of war. When I say that it means 
my family name would be wiped out. 

"Is it too much to ask, that he I love 
Shall come back safe to me, 
That his young limbs be still as straight and 
strong. 
His brave young eyes still see? 

"Is it too much, when countless women's hearts 
Mourn the beloved dead. 
Or break to see torn bodies, crippled limbs, 
Eyes whence the light has fled? 

"Is it too much, then, God, I would ask more; 
That he come safe to Thee, 
His white young soul unblemished and un- 
scarred, 
March homeward strong and free." 

Again, we must prepare our own hearts 
for heavy casualties. They are just be- 
ginning to come, but as far as human 
prescience can tell they will multiply 

79 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

into tens of thousands. Be not un- 
duly elated by present successes. Even 
these spell thousands of lives. Wounded 
returned marines have told me they lost 
seven out of ten men at the Marne June 
5th and 6th. Their estimate is prob- 
ably too high, but the losses must have 
been heavy to have made such an im- 
pression. Upon reliable authority from 
an officer at Quantico I may state that 
one machine gun battery trained there 
was literally wiped out — every man 
wounded or killed. In the counter- 
offensive on one day, July 19th, seven- 
teen out of twenty company commanders 
were lost, forty out of a battery of eight 
hundred remained, and companies of 
two hundred and fifty were reduced to 
fifty, commanded by a kid second lieu- 

80 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 



tenant. We fight a strong and un- 
scrupulous foe who can be whipped only 
by superior man power. We must catch 
the spirit of that first American mother 
who lost her son in France and said, 
''God has highly honored me in making 
me the mother of a son who died for the 
world's freedom." Ex-President Roose- 
velt's bearing was worthy of the high 
office he once filled. I am a democrat 
as my forefathers were, but when a man 
attacks Mr. Roosevelt's patriotism I am 
disposed to ask him, ''How many sons 
have you sent to the war?" He has given 
his all — four. One enlisted with the 
Allies before we declared war and has 
recently joined the American colors in 
France. One is wounded in a French 
hospital, and one has been invalided 

81 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

home. The youngest sleeps in a mili- 
tary grave at the edge of a wood at 
Chambray. Quentin, the baby boy, had 
brought down his first airplane and was 
killed attacking seven others. When 
the sad intelligence of the youngest son's 
death reached his father, Mr. Roosevelt 
said, ''Quentin's mother and I are glad 
that he was able to render some service 
to his country before his fate befell him." 
He showed himself a worthy ex-Presi- 
dent. Such hearts at home will make 
"Our Boys" in France more than equal 
to any task. 

"Out of it all shall come splendor and gladness, 
Out of the madness and out of the sadness, 
Cleaner and finer the world shall arise ; 
Why, then, keep sorrow and doubt in your 



eyes? 



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OUR^BOYS IN FRANCE 

"Not in vain, not in vain, is our bright banner 

flying, 
Not for naught are the sons of our fond mothers 

dying; 
The gloom and despair are not ever to last. 
The world shall be better when they shall have 

passed. 

"So mourn not his absence, but smile and be 

brave, 
You shall have him again from the brink of 

the grave. 
In a wonderful world 'neath a wonderful sun, 
He shall come to your arms with his victory 

won." 

Getting Ready for Their Return. 

Be prepared for their home-coming 
when the war is over. Thousands will 
sleep beneath the white crosses and wild- 
flowers of shell-torn Europe; an ap- 
preciable per cent, will marry, enter 
business, and live in France; but the vast 

S3 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

majority will come home. Then we 
shall have new and grave problems — 
economic, domestic, educational, political 
and religious. The business world must 
get ready for the return of our men. 
Their old positions will be filled by others 
and labor will be plentiful and employ- 
ment scarce. Wherever possible, with- 
out doing injustice, their pre-war jobs 
should be offered them. Physicians who 
gave up their practice to minister to our 
men should certainly have their former 
patients, and even more. Lawyers should 
find that old clients are as loyal to them 
as they have been to the government. 
Unless we begin to grow a conscience on 
this question now, professional men, 
once with lucrative practices, may hear 
"hard times a-knockin' at de door" 

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OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

when they resume practice. Lionizing 
our returned soldiers will not suffice. 
The modest will shrink from it. All 
worthy ones will want employment where 
they can earn an honest living. The 
cripples will be better served by positions 
they can fill acceptably than by charity. 
Canada provides free vocational train- 
ing, with soldiers' pay, for her crippled, 
and the United States should not do 
less. The able Secretary of the Interior, 
Franklin Lane, has a vast plan for drain- 
ing the fertile swamp lands and settling 
soldiers on them on terms of forty years 
payment. 'Tis a noble conception with 
many difficulties in application. It will 
not appeal to some soldiers and measures 
must be devised for them. It is the 
bounden duty of every business man to 

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OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

devote his best thought to the question 
of assimilating the returned soldiers into 
the economic life of the country in a way 
conducive to prosperity. 

Our domestic life owes a solemn obliga- 
tion to the returning soldiers. What a 
joy to discharge that obligation! Of 
course, the boy's room will be arranged 
just as he liked it before he went away. 
If lodgers have occupied it they must 
vacate. How good it will feel to sleep 
in that bed once more! Indulge him 
for a time in late rising. He is short on 
sleep, anyway, and the old freedom is 
refreshing. Prepare the dishes he relishes. 
No fear of spoiling him. He wants to be 
a boy again for a little while. Make 
real those dreams he dreamed in France 
of ''Home, Sweet Home." Soon enough 

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OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

he will be up and out and about serious 
tasks. 

Our educational life must be rearranged 
and adapted to the needs of the soldiers. 
War has created a demand for education. 
Grown men, unprepared for college, will 
have seen the advantages of education 
and will come back with a thirst for 
knowledge. The horizon of the world 
will have been opened to boys who 
never saw beyond their native plains 
and mountains. The tragedy of the 
South after Appomattox must not be 
repeated and our young men who served 
their country must not limp through 
life for the lack of an education. Thank 
God we shall have less of ''German 
scholarship," which was at heart Christ- 
less rationalism. The State and de- 

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OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

nominational schools must arrange their 
curricula so as to take and train such 
of these men as want an education. 
The test of the character and efficiency 
of our colleges and universities must be 
their ability to meet and supply the de- 
mands of the young men after the war. 

Political life will inevitably be affected 
by the returned soldiers. They have ven- 
tured their all for a principle and will 
have little patience with the devotees of 
expediency. Perhaps some will have been 
disgusted with the politics that played 
in commissions and promotions. We may 
expect our returned men to figure promi- 
nently in public affairs and the govern- 
ment will be better for their participa- 
tion. They have seen and studied other 
governments; they have thought on na- 



OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

tional and international questions; they 
will have views of their own and courage 
and ability to express them. But what 
will they say of the people who filled their 
own coffers with money while our sol- 
diers were jeoparding their lives in 
Europe? 

Religious life, too, must be ready for 
the returning soldiers. This is vital to 
all else. If we fail here we have lost 
incalculably though we may have 
whipped the Huns. Periods following 
wars have been periods of demoraliza- 
tion and drifting away from the churches 
and God. Oh, for wisdom and power 
in the churches to greet, grip and hold 
the soldiers when they come home! 
There is danger of ''overworking" the 
war. Of that they will be surfeited. 

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OUR BOYS IN FRANCE 

Tens of thousands will have found Christ 
in the camps but will need training for 
service. Many will come back fatalists 
and many more devout than when they 
went away. A worshipful atmosphere, 
soulful singing, heartfelt praying, 
straightforward preaching must be our 
methods if we would make Christ an 
ever-present reality to them, and His 
Churches the house of God and the gate of 
Heaven. Yes, some time Our Boys are 
coming from Europe where they will 
have broken the sword of tyranny, 
across seas in which assassins no longer 
lurk, into ports of peace and plenty and 
to homes that love them with deathless 
affection. God speed that day. 



90 



